Did Microsoft presentation include rape joke?

That’s the talk going around the Interwebs, referring to banter between a man and woman demonstrating the fighting game “Killer Instinct” at the Electronic Entertainment Expo Monday.

Microsoft acknowledged Tuesday that the comment was “offensive.”

The man was, well, beating up on the woman when he said: “Just let it happen. It’ll be over soon.”

The audience laughed.

“You have a fight stick,” the woman said.

“Wow. You like this,” the man commented.

“No, I don’t like this,” the woman replied.

Jonathan Blow, a prominent game designer, typified the outraged response, Tweeting: “Let’s bring a woman on stage and joke about how she’s bad at games, and say stuff like ‘relax, just let it happen, it’ll be over soon’??”

In contrast, on a YouTube page featuring the interchange, commenter limozeen64 wrote: “If you got a rape joke from this I feel sorry for you.”

In a statement Tuesday, Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, said:

Yesterday, during the Xbox E3 briefing, one of our employees made an off-the-cuff and inappropriate comment while demoing ‘Killer Instinct’ with another employee. This comment was offensive and we apologize. At Microsoft, being open and respectful with others is central to our code of conduct and our values. Bullying and harassment of any kind is not condoned and is taken very seriously. We remain committed to make gaming fun for everyone, and in that effort, we must lead by example.